End of an Era
by MoonsandRoses
Summary: Sasuke muses with Naruto by his side, as they lie bleeding in the Valley of the End. Set during Chapter 699. Oneshot. Overtones of SasuNaru.


Sasuke rolled his head to the side, staring at Naruto's badly bruised and cut face. There they were, lying almost side-by-side on uneven, unforgiving dirt and rock in the Valley of the End, bodies ruined by the clash of their powerful _jutsu._ Even in the midst of mind-numbing pain, Sasuke could scarcely believe he wasn't dreaming.

Naruto looked like he was about to start dreaming himself, his left eye (the one that wasn't a swollen mess) slowly drooping closed. There was a contented quirk to his lips, completely at odds with the jagged rocks fringing the havoc they had wreaked around them.

Naruto still refused to kill him. And Sasuke still couldn't kill Naruto.

They both knew it as well as they knew their own names, Uzumaki and Uchiha. And so, while trying to ignore the shivering, weightless pain that told him one hand and forearm was gone, Sasuke had finally confessed his true feelings about their bond. Finally admitted that Naruto had been as much his beacon as he had been Naruto's. That the only thing that had been stronger than their bond was Sasuke's desperation to break it and be free.

Now Naruto must be reveling in the fact that he had been right about Sasuke all along.

_The idiot_, Sasuke thought. And he didn't even have the energy left to resent Naruto for being right after all. Everything that was his former self had been spent in destroying the monuments erected to Hashirama and Madara, instead of destroying each other. The cycle of conflict had come to a close, and a new era was beginning.

Well, perhaps it was too soon to say he and Naruto hadn't destroyed each other. They'd die of blood loss and physical trauma rather soon, if no one was able to find them and tend to them. Somehow, that didn't really concern Sasuke. All he could think about was this moment. How strange it felt to be completely candid with the person he'd hurt for years, and yet, how natural, too.

How awe-inspiring it was that, in spite of everything Sasuke had put Naruto (and himself) through in attempt to sever every stubborn tie, Naruto was still ecstatic to accept him. What forgiveness. It put Sasuke in mind of they way Itachi had gently smiled at him before collapsing in death.

Sasuke stared up at the sky, now long since clear of all the airborne dust created by their death-wish of a spar.

God, why was Sasuke's existence framed by people with such big hearts? And why did they care about Sasuke, a boy who'd spent most of his life desperate to strangle his own heart so it would never beat nor bleed again?

He didn't deserve them. Not Itachi. Not Naruto. Not Sakura or Kakashi or any of the others that had tried to retrieve him from his dark path.

He was startled to feel another wayward, willful tear meandering through the blood and dirt down his cheek. But he didn't feel shame, though he would have nursed the feeling to an angry frezy before. Now he felt relief. Now was the time for tears.

If he and Naruto lived, he would not suffer himself to cry again. He didn't know what he would suffer, what he would do in a world where there was no one to fight, or to avenge. He didn't know how he would cope with the darkness in him that would seek release in some form. Perhaps they were reconciled, but Sasuke was not whole. He would never be fully healed, never be bathed in light through and through.

Naruto would just keep him sane. And Sasuke was inclined to think that was all he needed. A little warmth to combat the chill, a little kindness to remind him to stem his fury. Sasuke was ready to accommodate a little complacency, just a little.

Would he ever live a balanced, normal life? No. He was as much an elemental creature as Naruto's _kyuubi_ ally. He was much a roiling inferno as the fire _jutsu_ that issued from his mouth.

But no one would burn because of him again. Pain was no longer his allocate to anyone. He would be a threat never fully unhinged.

Provided he didn't die first.

"Hey, jerk!"

Naruto must not be dreaming after all, Sasuke thought, turning to look back at his best and truest friend. Who had just affectionately called him a jerk.

"Stop acting like you're not here. I had to deal with you actually not being here long enough!" Naruto said, stopping several times to splutter or cough. One of his legs fidgeted slightly, as if it was trying to find a comfortable position on the unfriendly rock surface.

"Somehow," said Sasuke, speaking slow and trying to modulate his voice without coughing, "I get the feeling I was always with you, one way or another. You never let me go. I bet you pretended I was still there all the time, didn't you?"

"No!" said Naruto, speaking so quickly and adamantly, Sasuke knew he was right.

"Well then,"said Sasuke, "I didn't ever imagine you with me while I was in the Sound, taunting me to train harder, either."

Naruto broke into one of the goofiest grins Sasuke yet witnessed. If the blond wasn't so tired, he would have lifted an arm to scratch behind his head.

"Actually, you usually were in my dreams," Naruto said, glancing down at their half-missing arms and grimacing.

"Oh?" Sasuke was quirking a brow quizzically before he could stop himself.

"Yeah," Naruto went on, shifting his gaze to Sasuke's face. "The dreams were always dumb, though. You marrying Sakura and making faces at me. Zabuza and Haku coming back to take us all on a picnic. Rock Lee teaching us to imitate Guy-_sensei._ Neji and Hinata braiding our hair when we weren't looking."

"Those are dumb dreams indeed, _dobe_," Sasuke agreed. But then, he had dreamed a thousand times of Itachi spiriting him and Naruto and Sakura away, far away to land where all they did was spar and eat and dream in a towering forest that covered both earth and sky. Not one of the dreams had made sense, and yet Sasuke had treasured them anyway.

"Sasuke?"

He snapped his focus back on Naruto. How quick and effortless that was, now he wasn't pointedly avoiding the very thought of his friend. "Yes?" he asked.

"Just in case Sakura doesn't come . . . just in case she doesn't make it in time . . ."

"Naruto," Sasuke said, voice taking on a edge of warning.

"Let me say this!" Naruto coughed up another wash of blood, but he struggled on. "I want you to know that I made Kakashi promise that when he becomes Hokage, no kid will be orphaned like we were. Not because of tailed beast rampage or a jealous fear of powerful clan. And if there are any orphans, they'll be loved. They won't be abandoned. Nobody will suffer the same way we did again. Not in Konoha. Not in the other villages, either, if he can help it."

Sasuke started to chuckle, but changed it to a cough. "That's the dumbest dream I've heard yet," he said.

Naruto smirked. "Glad to know you approve."

Sasuke felt himself smirking back. "You know, Naruto," he said. "In case Sakura does come, just in case she makes it in time . . . would you like to help me make a new Uchiha district? Not a big one, just one house. A house that is nothing like what either of us grew up with. A house that anyone who knew loneliness can use to banish that feeling forever."

Naruto's good eye widened, the iris looking bluer than ever in contrast with the crimson dotted around them. He licked his lips, and the whisper that followed was hushed, but fraught with emotion.

"I can't believe I'm not dreaming right now."

The End

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><p>Please review and tell me what you think! Hope you enjoyed it. :)<p> 


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